Diana was not pregnant - ex-royal coroner

Diana, Princess of Wales was not pregnant at the time of her death, the former Royal Coroner has said.

Dr John Burton, who attended the Princess's post-mortem examination, said he could tell she was not expecting a baby when he looked at her womb.

"I was actually present when she was examined. She wasn't pregnant. I know she wasn't pregnant," he told The Times newspaper.

Dr Burton was speaking the day after his successor Michael Burgess opened inquests into the deaths of Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed.

Mr Burgess said he had asked the Metropolitan Police to probe speculation that the deaths were not the result of a "straightforward, road traffic accident".

Police in England would be asked to interview possible witnesses to find out whether their evidence was relevant to the inquests, Mr Burgess said.

Fresh allegations were made last month that Diana was pregnant at the time of the fatal car crash in Paris in August 1997.

A senior French police source told the Independent on Sunday newspaper the Princess was pregnant and that there was a "cover up of sorts" following the accident.

The source, who claimed to have seen all the relevant documents, said the pregnancy was not mentioned in the official investigation into the crash by a French judge because it was not considered relevant to either the causes of the accident or Diana's death.

But Dr Burton, who retired as Coroner of the Queen's Household in 2002, said the French would not have carried out a post-mortem on the Princess.